diff --git a/pygeoapi/provider/sqlite.py b/pygeoapi/provider/sqlite.py
index 89c99a9..9660489 100644
--- a/pygeoapi/provider/sqlite.py
+++ b/pygeoapi/provider/sqlite.py
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ import sqlite3
 import logging
 import os
 import geojson
-from pygeoapi.provider.base import BaseProvider
+from pygeoapi.provider.base import BaseProvider, ProviderConnectionError
 from pygeoapi.provider import InvalidProviderError
 
 LOGGER = logging.getLogger(__name__)
@@ -106,7 +106,12 @@ class SQLiteProvider(BaseProvider):
         else:
             raise InvalidProviderError
 
-        conn.enable_load_extension(True)
+        try:
+            conn.enable_load_extension(True)
+        except AttributeError as err:
+            LOGGER.error('Extension loading not enabled: {}'.format(err))
+            raise ProviderConnectionError()
+
         conn.row_factory = sqlite3.Row
         cursor = conn.cursor()
         cursor.execute("SELECT load_extension('mod_spatialite')")